A Brief History of Steam Cars
Steam cars outnumbered other forms of propulsion among very early cars. In the U.S. in 1902, 485 of 909 new car registrations were steamers. Twins Francis E. Stanley (1849–1918) and Freelan O. Stanley (1849–1940) founded the company after selling their photographic dry plate business to Eastman Kodak. They produced their first car in 1897. During 1898 and 1899, they produced and sold over 200 cars, more than any other U.S. maker. They made famous models such as the 1906 Stanley Rocket, 1908 Stanley K Raceabout and 1923 Stanley Steam Car. Our cars are Stanley steam-powered cars. Between 1899 and 1905, Stanley outsold all petrol-powered cars.
In 1899, Freelan and his wife Flora drove one of their cars to the top of Mount Washington in New Hampshire, the highest peak in the northeastern United States. The ascent took more than two hours and was notable as being the first time a car had climbed the 7.6 miles (12.2 km) long Mount Washington Carriage Road.
In 1906 the Land Speed Record was broken by a Stanley steam car, piloted by Fred Marriott, which achieved 127 mph (204 km/h) at Ormond Beach, Florida. This annual week-long "Speed Week" was the forerunner of today's Daytona 500. This record was not exceeded by any car until 1910.
The introduction of assembly-line mass production by Henry Ford, which hugely reduced the cost of owning a conventional automobile, was a strong factor in the steam car's demise as the Model T was both cheap and reliable.
How Does It Work?
It used a compact fire-tube boiler to power a simple double-acting two-cylinder engine. Because of the phenomenal torque available at all engine speeds, the steam car's engine was typically geared directly to the rear axle, with no clutch or variable speed transmission required. Until 1914, Stanley steam cars vented their exhaust steam directly to the atmosphere, necessitating frequent refilling of the water tank; after 1914, all Stanleys were fitted with a condenser, which considerably reduced their water consumption.
Stanley steamers generate steam in drum shaped boilers ranging from 14" to 30" in diameter and from 14" to 18" in height. Similar to a battery the Stanley boiler stores steam energy for later use on demand. Unique in their design, no Stanley boiler has ever been documented to explode. The circular boiler walls are strengthened with three layers of exceptionally strong piano wire to provide sidewall strength unequalled in boiler designs for similar ratings. The use of between 500 and 1,000 fire tubes not only efficiently transfers heat to the water, they provide a structural strength to the boiler ends. Operated nominally at 600 PSIG, boilers were factory tested to twice operating pressure before being placed in a car.
Once generated, steam is released from the boiler through a driver controlled throttling valve. The steam is routed to the engine after making a final pass through the burner fire to absorb 150-degrees or so of additional superheat energy. Upon reaching the engine the steam is directed through D slide valves to one of the double-acting, dual cylinders. Stanley Motor Carriages, while rated in boiler steaming capacities of 10, 20, and 30 horsepower, had engines capable of developing 100 horsepower and more for short periods of time. The engine was mounted to the rear drive axle at a nominal 1.5:1 gear ratio between the crankshaft and the differential gear. Transmissions were not required and hence there was no "neutral" or clutch.
